US unemployment falls to 3.4% as surprise 517,000 jobs added in January

'Monstrous' job growth

The US added 517,000 jobs in January, as hiring unexpectedly jumped despite high inflation, rising interest rates and a looming economic downturn.

This is up from the 223,000 increase in non-farm payrolls seen in December. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast 185,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate to rise to 3.6%.  However, Labor Department figures showed the unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 3.4%, the lowest level since 1969, from 3.5% in December.  Average hourly earnings meanwhile rose 0.3% on the month, in consensus with expectations, against a 0.3% gain in December.   Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, described the figures as "monstrous" and noted that such strong job...